If we use an integral approach, we can never miss out on the subjective and intersubjective aspects of any phenomena, including a discussion of abundance and scarcity, which we started yesterday.
The mentality aspect of this is well explained an article by Penny Tremblay. Note that such thinking can easily become new age psychologizing when one does not also recognize that there are objective aspects to it.
Nevertheless, I believe Tremblay strikes the right tone, stressing that regardless of the objective circumstances, it makes better human sense, and gives better result, than the scarcity mentality.
One of the slides I was preparing for my Australian lecture tour (which started on the 19th), is to explain the change in motivation for work and creativity from one of incentives to one of eliminating obstacles. Is that not also based on a implicit notion of abundance? Furthermore, keen observers of our wiki will have noted we have been adding many citations, which are so many mantra’s to inspire our readers, and two of them have a clear underlying abundance mentality.
1) Together we have everything
2) Together we know everything
Once this is collectively accepted, the whole ball game can change.
Granted that we are not there yet, what can we do?
I believe it will be a combination of three interrelated aspects, and these will bring about a ‘peer to peer world’:
1) practice what we preach, for those who are really convinced (according to Wilber’s synthesis of various data, this amounts to 2% of the U.S. population, see slide 17 of this presentation)
2) inspire through shared ideals, those that can be pragmatically inspired to adopt abundance based mentalities for part of their lives (11 to 26% of the population)
3) create technological and organizational frameworks, in which those values are embedded in the protocols, thereby creating low treshold entry to implicit abundance structures, that have a teaching function for those naturally inclined to scarcity behaviours. (to understand this argument think of how EU Institutions might have avoid a Balkanization of eastern europe, or a catastrophy similar to the neoliberal shock therapy in Russia, institutions and technologies are crystallizations of values which might upgrade the ‘average’ behaviour or the ‘center of gravity’ of certain groups)
Penny Tremblay on abundance vs. scarcity psychology:
“Do you know anyone who spends a lot of time and energy competing with others or putting people down verbally because they fear that that person is better than they are?
Are you the type of person who battles their weight, but insists on eating every last morsel of food on your plate because you don’t want to waste?
Or perhaps you can think of someone who has a relationship conflict of some type, and is struggling for an answer of what is the right thing to do.
In these three brief examples, having an “Abundance Mentality” mindset will help overcome the challenges that many of us are faced with on a regular basis.
An Abundance Mentality basically means being of the mindset that there is plenty out there for everyone. There are many benefits to having a mentality that is secure and confident that there is plenty for all, and my mission with this article is to point out these benefits in order to help you to think “Win/Win” when making choices and decisions.
What would our lives be like if we changed our thinking to be in sync with a mentality of abundance? Examples of this mindset would be to believe that the world has fruit for all, that there is plenty to go around, that there is a lot of room at the top, that we are beneath no one and superior to no one. If we could develop this mentality, we would free ourselves from fear, we would be immune to criticism, and we would experience ultimate freedom in our minds and in our hearts.
Our lives will change for the better if we adopt this mentality, and our behavior will be more in line with achieving our own definition of success.
Let’s look at the characteristics of an Abundance Mentality, versus the opposite, which is known as the “Scarcity Mentality”, where people believe that there is only one pie in the world and you’ve got to fight to get your piece of it.
The Scarcity Mentality is limiting. It may seem like a good plan at first, but over time too much energy is wasted on conflict, negative thinking, and stifled creativity. On the other hand, the Abundance Mentality is beyond one’s ego. It’s fearless, it’s free, and it’s immune to criticism. It is beneath no one and superior to no one. It is full of magic.
What are the benefits of an Abundance Mentality? When it comes to human interaction, characteristics of integrity, maturity, and an Abundance Mentality have the ability to create Win/Win situations for all parties involved.
Win/Win is a thought process of both the mind and the heart that continuously seeks mutual benefit in human interaction. With a Win/Win frame of mind, all parties involved feel good about the solutions, agreements, and decisions because they are mutually beneficial for everyone involved. In this way of thinking, emphasis is put upon cooperation, not competition.” (http://www.northernlightspresentations.com/articles/AbundanceMentality.htm)
please explain re: abundance mentality how this differs from new age capitalist magical thinking a la ‘the secret’. for instance w/scarce resources like oil and suv drivers who might feel abundance mentality gives them total permission to be unembarassedly hogging the relatively ‘scarce supply’. i do finish all the food on my plate by the way (& noticing food prices going way up). i’ve always noticed middle & UPPER midddle class people are usually much more nonchalant about these things! is this a philosophical justification for the haves?are zen monks eating their bit of rice,pickled vegetables, & twig tea(to clean bowl) victims of scarcity mentality? & how about future people not being more than 5’4″ tall so they won’t consume more than their share of all resources (as suggested some years ago by enviromentalists). i might be taking this all wrong.& what was ken wilber’s 2%? i thought it referred to 2nd tier population %, or is abundance mentality one of their hallmarks. i’m all for win/win so i want to get on board with you, LOVE dondon
Dear Donald:
I think what matters is the appropriateness of abundance thinking. In the immaterial world of marginal reproduction costs, abundance applies ‘naturally’ and we can have a system of production, i.e. non-reciprocal peer production, that expresses that. In the world of limited physical resources, i.e. scarcity, we have to recognize limits, but I would suggest replacing the culture of fear, by a culture of sufficiency, and a recognition of ‘together we have everything’. In the world of scarcity and sufficiency, we need peer-informed modes (instead of pure non-reciprocal peer to peer) based on exchange (market)or reciprociy (gift economies based on symmetry of relationships).
Where a certain kind of new age thinking can become pathological, is when it applies abundance to the limited world of material resources.
Michel
dear michel, though i don’t understand ‘non-reciprocal peer to peer’or’gift economies based on symmetry of relationships'(i’ll have to get up on P2P tech-geek jargon!) i completely agree w/ the general meaning & tenor of your resonse FILLED AS IT IS WITH LOVE. donald
Dear Donald:
My typology is inspired by Alan Page Fiske’s relational grammar, see http://p2pfoundation.net/Relational_Model_Typology_-_Fiske
I think the basic idea is fairly simple: when resources are abundant, as in the immaterial sphere where the cost of reproducing information is marginal, you do not care that your gifts are returned in any direct fashion; hence you can voluntarily contribute to a commons, and benefit from its wealth without anyone in particular returning that value directly; however, when you are dealing with limited resources, that cost you money to reproduce, it is necessary to have reciprocity, either through the market exchange of equivalent value, or throught the symmetry of the gift economy. If you give all your money away, without guarantee of a return, you risk not being able to eat. But if you give your musical or software creation away, all benefit from your gift.